Go-around sawmill



July 1931. F. c. WALTERS GO-AROUND SAWMILL Filed Aug. 8, 1927 INVENTOR Frederick C. Walters Patented July 28, 1931' PATENT OFFICE rnnnnnreg e, we terns, or EUGENE, OREGON sweete SA M L Arrlieefiflfileeeuet 8, 27-. er l O- .1 .;557-

invention relates to a new method and means for sawlng round logs into lumber,

The generally practiced manner is to fasten the logs to a reciprocating carriage and to move such carriage with-the log'locked there on past a saw, feeding the carr age toward the saw to make the Various thickness of cuts; The logis locked to the carriage'and its va 1 on har n r e her valuab 15 that such small logs are practically valueless from the standpoint of lumber production. Conservation of such smaller logs is a national problem, especially in the soft wood belts.

Some manufacturers have attacked and partially solved the problem b slabbing such smaller logs on 'a carriage, t at is out two adjacent faces of the log so as to form right angles and then using such flat faces as guides for passing them thru a re-saw mill. Other manufacturers have partially solved the problem by sawing the logs in halves and arranging such halves on their flat sides and running them thru a horizontal re-saw mill. to: Both of such plans, however, require two or more machines to complete the operation of making lumber from round logs and such plurality of machines not only require increased floor space, multiplied investment stand double handling, but also unnecessary waste valuable timber.

The object of my invention is to provide a method, and a single machine adapted to embody such method, bywhich small round logs may be cut up into lumber efficiently and the lumber cut therefrom to be sections and grades of greatest commercial value.

Heretofore several operators have adopted a so-called go-around, which consists of two lines of live rollers, the lines being spaced apart and substantialy parallel to each other. A sawing element, preferably a band saw, is I aligned with'one of such lines of rollers and transfer mechanism is arrangedat each side of the saw adapted to return the uncut portion of a log to the saw and guiding elements are provided for positioning the timber -rela-. tively to the saw.

I attain my object by modifying a standard go-around by providing a' separable fiat carriage adapted to ride such live rollers, such carriage having means such as a cradle or a set of dogs carried thereby to hold round logs firmly thereon. or'hoth edges of ea'chcarriage is plane'to constitute a guiding edge to be engaged by the positioning mech anism and the first slabbing cuts are made while the log is carried by such carriage. The log is then removed from thecarriage and the remaining cuts are "made while the log rests on one of its flat sides directly upon the live rollers, the guiding mechanisinbeing' adjusted tomakethe desired cuts.

Further details of my invention are hereinafter described with reference to the ac-,

company-ing drawings, in which F i'g, 1 is 'aplan'view of a portion of amachine embodying-my invention;

Fig. 2 1s a transverse viewthru such machine taken on the line 22 in Fig.1, showing a log mounted upon one type of carriage inplacein such machine; and

Fig3 is a view similar to Fig. 2, except on" a smaller scale and showing a 'modiiiedtype of log-supporting means for such carriage.

w A fgo-around which particularly lends itself to my invention comprises a frame a in which a plurality of aligned feed rollers b are carried. A similar frame a carriesa line of feed'rollers o The direction of rotation of rollers 0 tends to move a log-carried there on from left to ri ht, as shown in 'Fig. 1, and

the feed rollers Z; :tcnd tomovethelog in the opposite direction, that is, from right'to left. Transfer mechanism,preferably chains Q and 0 tend to move the log from the rollers b" to the rollers Z), and'fr-omthe rollers Zg to.therol-. lers: b", respectively. Between such transfer mechanisms the I saw element, preferably a band saw d,'is arranged in substantial alinement with the feed'rollers b and thus such log conveying devices tend to move logs to be sawed tothe saw element,-aro und behind it and" again return the same so that successive cuts thereon can be made bythe saw.

The hand saw (Z is carried over a pulley c mounted upon the shaft f, and the latter is driven by either of the pulleys g or g. To simplify the drawings the driving mechanism for the rollers and transfer chains is not shown except that each roller Z) is shown as carrying a sprocket 72 and each roller 5, a sprocket 7;. Air lifts 7t and it are shown diagrannnatically for the usual purpose of shifting the logs on to and off of the transfer mechanism.

Lying along side of the feed rollers F) and mounted upon the frame a is a vertical head block having vertically arranged roller elements j on its face. Screw elements Jc threaded into the frame (a. adjust such head block relatively to the saw line. A guiding arm I having a guide roller m at its outer end is arranged to engage the side of the log away from the head block, such guide roller being lee.

arranged close to the saw (Z to hold tl firmly agaii' t the head block, thus to in straight lumber.

To such go-around I add log carriages n comprising elongated fiat elements, preferably planks, for example planks 20 feet long and 4 x 12 inches in cross-section, and on such planks I provide a cradle of suificient width to hold the log securely on the carriage. Such cradle may be made of a channel section 0, which is capable of withstanding wear and hard usage. The smaller logs are carried by carriages of this character, shown diagrammatically in Fig. 2. Larger logs are carried by carriages as n, which are made of planks, for example planks 20 long and 4 x 30 inches in cross-section, having a chock p at one edge and a set of hinged dogs 9 mounted at the opposite edge and adapted to engage and hold a log in abutment with such chock p, as shown in Fig. 3.

A supply of such carriages is arranged at or near the log deck and the round logs to be operated upon are mounted on me or the other of such carriages and moved by the transfer mechanism 0 on to the live rollers b. The head blocks 27 and rollers j are only of such height as to engage the edge of the carriage 11 or n and one of both edges of such carriages are plane to constitute a straight guiding edge for the log. The desired thickness of slab is cut from one edge of the log while the latter is locked to the carriage and then such log is removed from the carriage and placed on its flat side. The carriage and the log are returned by the transfer mechanism 0' and the live rollers I) to a position in front of the log deck 7" where the carriage is removed from the conveying mechanism and placed in storage for future use.

To provide continuous operation for the saw a number of logs are spaced along the conveying mechanism so as to eleminate the necessity for waiting until each log has been returned from the discharge to the intake side of the saw element.

At the discharge side of the saw (Z and adjacent the saw line is a toothed wheel 3 for engaging the under side of the log being sawed to hold such log in alinement with such saw line. Such toothed Wheel is preferably yieldingly mounted to permit it to ride over the irregularities on the surface of the log.

I claim:

The combination in a saw mill of the character described, including a saw, a conveyor adapted to move material to be sawed along a path extending past such saw, a removable log-carrying element provided with bodily immovable log rotation preventing devices and having one plane edge surface, adapted to ride such conveyor, guiding elements arranged alongside such conveyor adjacent such saw and extending vertically upwardly from the plane of the path of said conveyor and positioned interchangeable to engage the plane edge surface of such logcarrying element as it moved along by such conveyor and to engage and restrain a log mounted directly on the conveyor, and setting means for such guiding elements, adjustable transversely of such path to determine the thickness of the slab to be cut by the saw.

FREDERICK C. VALTERS. 

